IDUs are among the high–risk groups contracting HIV. According to Sentinel Surveillance and Estimation Report 2007, released recently by NACO, the national average of HIV prevalence among IDUs is about 7.23 per cent, while in Amritsar this has been found to be as high as 30.4 per cent. In Churchandpur it is about 28 per cent followed by Chennai (27.2 per cent) and Mumbai suburban (24.4 per cent).
The revelation has rung alarm bells in the state, and officials of the Punjab State AIDS Control Society are learnt to have briefed Minister of Health Laxmi Kanta Chawla about the situation. Chawla is an MLA from Amritsar.
The incidence of IDUs in Amritsar is high mainly because of the easy availability of injectable drugs in the border districts of Amritsar, Tarn Taran and Gurdaspur.
Amritsar also has the highest incidence of HIV positive persons in the state. Over 5,400 persons here have tested HIV positive. At Patiala, over 2,000 persons are HIV positive and in Jalandhar the number is over 1,700. Ludhiana has almost a 1,000 persons who are HIV positive followed by Gurdaspur, where over 600 persons have been found to be HIV positive.
According to the state AIDS Control Society, Punjab has over 15,000 HIV positive persons (till April 2009). In all India perspective, this is over 11 per cent of the total HIV positive population in the country.
“The figures, which we provide NACO for the compilation of data, do not include the number of HIV patients in the high–risk groups. That figure will be added to the final count from next year. The number of HIV positive persons is likely to be double than what the figures say right now,” said Dr NM Sharma, additional project director of the state AIDS Control Society.
According to the NACO report, the state–wise HIV prevalence among IDUs is highest in Maharashtra at 24.4 per cent followed by Manipur (17.9 per cent), Tamil Nadu (16.8 per cent), Punjab (13.8 per cent), Delhi (10.1 per cent) and Chandigarh (8.6 per cent). Chandigarh the city has almost 450 registered HIV positive persons.
Haryana is suspected to have over 42000 HIV positive persons with the disease most prevalent among truckers, followed by commercial sex workers and intravenous drug users.
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Source: Tribune India
